Where Do I Sit? - Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 15A

14 On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a
leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him
closely. 2 Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy.

7 When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor,
he told them a parable. 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding
banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more
distinguished than you has been invited by your host; 9 and the host who
invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and
then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are
invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he
may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the
presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11 For all who exalt themselves
will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

12 He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you
give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or
your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and
you would be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the
crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they
cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

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Proverbs
25 offers a brief but pointed piece of wisdom: “Don’t exalt yourself in the
presence of the king, or stand in the place of important people” (Prov.25:6-7). In a hierarchical society where
the king was viewed as being close to divine if not divine, this is definitely
a word of wisdom. Even in a modern democracy
such as the United States, a person doesn’t just go up and start talking to the
President. If the President, or a member
of the staff, invites you to join in conversation with the President, well
that’s a different story, but you can’t just jump into the front of the line
and expect to be well-treated by the President, staff, or the folks around you.
It is wise to know one’s place!

Jesus
speaks to the issue of social hierarchy in two parables found in Luke 14. The
context is a meal hosted by a leading Pharisee on the Sabbath. While he was
there a man suffering from dropsy sat down on the front porch of the home where
Jesus was present, and the people watched to see if he would heal the man. It
was a trap and Jesus emerged from it, while the man was healed. That part of
the story is omitted from the lectionary, but it does illustrate Jesus’ ongoing
concern for those who are often set aside by society, even using religious
rules to enforce social boundaries.

After
the encounter with the man with dropsy Jesus sat down and began to watch how
the guests behaved. He noticed how the
guests were jockeying for the best seat in the house. Your social status was marked by where you
sat. Seeing this Jesus offered a word of
wisdom. As was his custom he did so in
the form of a parable.

He told
the gathering a parable about proper etiquette at a wedding banquet. Because
parables often illustrate the nature of God’s realm it’s good to know that a
wedding banquet is a symbol of the realm.
He told his fellow guests that when you go to a wedding, you shouldn’t
try to sit in the seat of honor (unless you’re the party getting married!). Don’t go sitting at the head table, because a
more important guest might be coming (the party getting married!) You don’t
want to do this because if the host or steward comes and reseats you, you will
suffer humiliation. It’s quite likely you’ll get seated at the back of the
room, and that’s not a good situation. Wouldn’t it be better to start at the back,
and perhaps the host will come and invite you to move forward to a seat of
honor? As Jesus said: The last shall be
first, and the first last (Lk 13:30).
This is a key point that appears throughout Scripture—God will bring
down the proud and lift up those on the margins. It is a message that Mary sang
of and which Jesus lived out on the cross.
As we read this text, we should do so in light of the cross, for Jesus
humbled himself and died on a cross. He
suffered humiliation, but God lifted him up in the resurrection. Now, we needn’t take this to extremes. We needn’t brutalize our bodies in order to
please God, but in this story Jesus makes it clear that God does stand with
those on the margins.

But
Jesus isn’t finished. He also talks
about the meaning and purpose of hospitality.
Then as now we tend to think of hospitality in terms of reciprocity. I invite you and you invite me. There’s nothing inherently wrong with
reciprocating, as it is good manners, but Jesus wants to push us beyond our own
self-interest. He wants us to think
about why we invite someone to dinner.
Is it because we expect something out of it?

Instead
of treating hospitality as a means to an end, Jesus encourages us to invite
those who cannot reciprocate. Invite to
your banquet “the poor, crippled, lame, and blind. And you will be blessed because they can’t
repay you. Instead, you will be repaid
in the resurrection” (Luke 14:13-14 CEB).
This is a difficult word to hear because we seldom live in accordance
with this directive. We don’t do this
in our personal lives. We don’t do this
in our congregations. And it’s clear
from the political sentiment of the age, that we don’t want to do this in
public life. The current mood, even
among church people, is “I’ve got mine.
You’re on your own.” We don’t
want to pay taxes to support education, public transportation, health care, and
more. If we were to stop and ask: What
would Jesus do? What do you think the answer would be? If we are people of
God’s realm, how should we live?

I am a Disciples of Christ pastor, theologian, community activist, historian, teacher. I'm a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary with a M.Div. and a Ph.D. in Historical Theology. I'm the author of a number of books including
Out of the Office: A Theology of Ministry (Energion, 2017), Marriage in Interesting Times (Energion, 2016), and Freedom in Covenant (Wipf and Stock, 2015).